Celebrate Eid Differently By Staying Home

Qatar residents should celebrate Eid al-Fitr differently this year by staying home in order to avoid further spread of the novel coronavirus disease.

“Be extra careful during the Eid al Fitr holidays not to visit each other,” urged Dr Abdullatif al-Khal, chair of the National Strategic Group on Covid-19 and head of the Infectious Diseases Division at Hamad Medical Corporation.

“We are seeing many examples where the virus is spreading rapidly among members of the same family, even when they do not share a household, due to families visiting each other and socializing during Ramadan,” he pointed out.

“It is really important that you stay home and only go out when it is absolutely necessary and that you follow social and physical distancing measures.”

While the majority of Covid-19 patients experience only mild symptoms, there is an increase in the number of patients with more severe symptoms. Everyone has a role to play in successfully overcoming this pandemic. The public is urged to work with the healthcare sector and play their part.

All the staff and health workers in the public health sector have been exerting great efforts to contain the disease. “We are still in the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak in Qatar and the cases will continue to increase before they eventually drop,” Dr al-Khal cautioned.

“The number of cases among Qataris and expatriates outside the workers’ categories has also increased as some still do not abide by the precautionary and preventive measures and continue to have family gatherings such as group iftar and not limit their movement outside home,” he observed.

The average number of cases admitted to the ICU jumped to 20 per day for the past week, from 14 per day during the previous week. Women account for around 16% of the cases admitted to the ICU. There are currently 172 cases in the ICU, including 74 on ventilators.

It is encouraging that the number of patients making a full recovery from the virus is also increasing each day, in part due to the new international guidelines on the time frame when patients are no longer contagious, meaning they can be safely discharged sooner.